Questions tagged [understanding]
The understanding tag has no usage guidance.
75 questions
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3answers
33 views
+50
Usage/understanding of “holding it all”?
In the Off Camera Show (timestamp), Brit Marling says today many people take many photos a day as a way to say
I'm here, I'm alive and I'm holding it all.
Is this a way to express someone has ...
0
votes
1answer
19 views
Understanding Last lot & New lot
What does "Under the last lot. Under the new lot" mean in this passage:
Paul: Have you ever seen me cry? Do I look like a man who cries? Has
there ever been a day … ? Christ, we’ve known each ...
1
vote
1answer
38 views
Am I understanding verb tenses correctly?
I made the following sentences up by myself and I would like to know if they are grammatically correct.
Past Continuous:
“I was searching for a job in the newspaper when I got a phone call.”
or ...
0
votes
1answer
14 views
Understanding a line through a passage
What this line means: That’s what I always you see?
(Edward canes Anna once)
Edward: One. That’s what I always you see? I think it’s fairer you see to
count aloud. So that the boy knows ...
1
vote
2answers
26 views
sentence fragment to be improved
I ask the following as a non-native English speaker.
In this question, I have trouble understanding how does "accompany me to my office" connect to anything else in the sentence.
Original sentence:
...
2
votes
3answers
57 views
“you can” vs “you cannot” How to understanding? What is difference?
When I try accept my answer, I seen a prompt:
You can accept your own answer in 2 days
This sentence make sense to me as miswritten for:
You cannot accept your own answer in 2 days
I post ...
1
vote
1answer
33 views
Which type of coin is which?
The type of the receiving coin, upon which another set of dies are
struck, is referred to as "undertype", while the type being struck
over it is called an "overtype". (Source)
Am I understanding ...
0
votes
1answer
45 views
How to quick understand in continuous parentheses?
The problem comes when I try to understand (multiple) continuous parentheses, for example:
Summary of text leading up to this: someone purpose to eliminate 13 majors about humanities since they are ...
1
vote
2answers
43 views
a means to the end of
There is a misconception held by some that Stoics have no interest in
worldly goods and pleasures. This is not correct, as previously
stated. The acceptance of a period of discomfort, similarly, ...
0
votes
1answer
52 views
Meaning of “very confined"
What does "Very confined” mean in this short news update?
Shortly after news of the fire broke, Trump, who was in Washington,
tweeted: “Fire at Trump Tower is out. Very confined (well built
...
3
votes
1answer
90 views
Expression UK radio hosts and MCs use to shout out to friends/fans
I notice this mainly in drum 'n' bass/grime/dubstep radio shows from UK where an MC or the host frequently talks over the tune. Similar to terms like 'shout out to xxx' or 'big up xxx', where xxx ...
0
votes
1answer
30 views
meaning of “grounds on”
This is one of the answer choices given in LSAT exam.
The music critic challenges the grounds on which the music professor
generalizes from the particular context of rap music to the broader
...
0
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2answers
69 views
“This” modifier
Biologists have found that all tadpoles of that species begin life as
omnivores, feeding mainly on organic debris in their soon-to-be-dry
pool in the desert, but that occasionally one tadpole eats ...
1
vote
2answers
30 views
“Unwelcome liberty”, “taken with”
His works were praised by many literary critics as fresh, inventive
approaches to the form of the novel. Others, however, dismissed his
works as simple retelling of local tales, full of unwelcome ...
-1
votes
1answer
38 views
What's the exact meaning of "a role dispatched with some…and so on
Could ypu please explain and paraphrase the last part of the sentence.
The whole sentence: "Colin Firth gives a warm and sympathetic performance as Bertie, the Duke Of York, an introverted and ...
1
vote
1answer
80 views
“purely out of”
Some consumers will not continue to patronize a company purely out of
brand loyalty.
I have two interpretation for this sentence.
consumers does not go to the company because it is completely ...
1
vote
1answer
49 views
as being arbitrary
Many people object to mandatory retirement at age 65 as being
arbitrary, arguing that people over 65 make useful contributions.
However, if those who reach 65 are permitted to continue working
...
1
vote
1answer
252 views
Is “can be viewed using many different devices” correct? Is it missing a word?
Web pages can be viewed using many different devices: desktops, tablets, and phones.
I don't understand "viewed using" section. I think it miss a certain word.
0
votes
2answers
93 views
Passage understanding
There is a passage that I cannot understand. It is from one of the LSAT prep tests.
Superconductors are substances that conduct electricity without
resistance at low temperatures. Their use, ...
0
votes
1answer
25 views
poem to someone
Even in a laudatory poem to famous Chinese poet Li Po, which partly
serves to place Lum's work within a distinguished literary tradition,
Lum refuses to offer a stereotypical nostalgia for the ...
3
votes
3answers
154 views
Is my interpretation of this paragraph from a horror short story by Arthur C. Doyle right?
I'm reading Arthur Conan Doyle's LOT NO. 249, and I'm having some troubles understanding the first paragraph.
Of the dealings of Edward Bellingham with William Monkhouse Lee, and of the cause of ...
2
votes
2answers
57 views
Why do people use phrases like “scan to” and “scan into”?
Source
Scan anything into a PDF using your mobile device.
Adobe Scan app, scan documents to PDF.
Scan to PDF, convert JPEG or TIFF to PDF.
Why one should say phrases like scan into PDF ...
0
votes
1answer
27 views
What's the difference between the usage of different and other in these contexts?
Source
The journey is called off, replanned for some other time.
Source:A School Prospectus
The school has well equipped computer labs. The students use the facilities to develop ...
0
votes
1answer
197 views
Using “ponder” as an intransitive verb?
In one my novels, a separate section is given as Points to Ponder Over. However, no phrasal verb as such (ponder over) really exists. By Oxford dictionary, ponder is a transitive verb. So it cannot be ...
1
vote
2answers
69 views
Can you explain about the constructions of the type “verb+noun+another verb”?
I have seen constructions like:
The number of electrons present inside the metal is large.
In the given case, the noun electrons is directly followed by the verb present.
It could also be written ...
0
votes
1answer
49 views
What can the phrase “form of life” mean?
Source
In cricket, most commentators use the phrase form of (his/her) life for describing players which are in form and doing good.
Source
In this source, a player has been called in the form of ...
0
votes
2answers
42 views
Why use “has” directly with an object in these types of contexts?
Source
Some of the oil has washed up on a neighboring island.
The bold part of the above sentence seems odd to me. It appears like oil is doing the process of washing up. For eg, when we say:
...
1
vote
1answer
2k views
How to tell someone “you don't understand my mean” politely in English?
When does someone not understand my mean, how can tell I it politely?
1
vote
2answers
95 views
How to easily read not simple English? [closed]
I am an intermediate level English learner and I wish to be fluent in English in order to be able to easily read academic subjects, books, novels, and researches written in not simple English, so I ...
0
votes
2answers
80 views
Sentence meaning in context
The reasoning in the argument is most vulnerable to criticism on the
grounds that the argument
A)_____ B)_____ C)_____
For me, it sounds like most should be eliminated in order for the ...
0
votes
1answer
65 views
meaning of “putative connection” [closed]
This year, the American Association chose as the theme for its annual
conference some putative connection to storytelling: "Practices of
Historical Narrative.
I am not sure whether I am ...
0
votes
1answer
27 views
Circular Permutation Confusion
A question in my mathematics homework is as follows:
Find the number of ways in which seven men can sit at a round table so that all shall not have the same neighbors in any two arrangements.
My ...
2
votes
1answer
48 views
What's the rule governing the use of an indefinite article with a noun?
Source
Gazing at them for hours on end, sitting on the sandy river bank, was a great help to me. I could wash away my anguish and disgust over life. The anguish and disgust were caused by my ...
0
votes
1answer
33 views
“even” in “Now can you even come up with a decent plan”
I've encountered an even use when reading an article.
I don't know what does it stand for in this sentence.
I wonder that is even in the sentence below an adverb, an adjective or a verb? And it ...
1
vote
1answer
71 views
How do I identify whether the word “quite” is used in the sense of completely or partly?
I've found that word "quite" is used sometimes in the sense of "greatest extent" (or say absolute or complete sense) and sometimes "moderate extent" (or say somewhat or little sense) and taking the ...
2
votes
1answer
50 views
Understanding “to be”
The argument presupposes that which is to be proved.
The word "refute" means "prove sth to be wrong".
In the first sentence, the phrase "to be" seems to have a meaning of future. However, in the ...
0
votes
1answer
153 views
Confused between conditional sentences
If I had had more time, I would have solved the puzzle. [Past unreal/Past+Past]
(I did not have more time so I did not solve the puzzle.)
If I had more time, I would have solved the puzzle. [Mixed ...
2
votes
1answer
95 views
“what it is to <do something>”
According to this passage, based on Three Days to See by Helen Keller:
"I do not know what it is to see into the heart of a friend through that "window of the soul," the eye. I can only "see" ...
0
votes
1answer
45 views
I dont understand this sentence
"The programmes of study will apply from five years of age, likewise the attainment targets."
Not much else to add really, specifically the last part I have trouble understanding? How can an ...
4
votes
2answers
86 views
Having problem understanding a sentence
Our university, in expelling a student who verbally harassed his roommate, has erred by penalizing the student for doing what he surely has a right to do: speak his mind.
Q1) Are the word "student"s ...
4
votes
2answers
118 views
How to understand the word “free” in this sentence: “a geyser of death blasting mole bodies free of the planet”?
From A mole of moles, I meet this sentence:
Plumes of hot meat and bubbles of trapped gases like methane—along with the air from the lungs of the deceased moles—periodically rise through the mole ...
0
votes
1answer
429 views
How to use the verb “to be” correct in its infinitive form?
The verb "to be" is very confusing for me. I am not a native speaker and I want to use it correctly. I know that "is, am, are, was and were" are diffetrent forms of the verb "to be". I know how to use ...
1
vote
1answer
200 views
I can't understand this sentence [closed]
I could have picked up a dozen of those for next to nothing in the Cairo marketplace
0
votes
2answers
64 views
How to understand this sentence?
"You may want to use 20 squares of paper with the statement numbers on them to shuffle into appropriate piles "
What shuffles into piles? "You"or "paper" or "statement numbers"?
Can you explain why? ...
1
vote
1answer
68 views
What this person is saying in “American English” accent?
Video
At 1:02: He says
Human beings should be ..... from each other.
Also a little bit confusion between 0:02 and 0:10. I believe it is:
Went through .......
0
votes
2answers
60 views
Can you explain these phrases of British accent?
Source:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FH2UnMxR3IM
I am unable to understand English commentary in the video between 0:19 and 0:45.
I understood,'Andrew Flintoff ..... 3 wickets in 4 balls ......'.
...
0
votes
1answer
51 views
What is the interpretation of this liner? [closed]
Source:http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/mrsfunnybones/kohinoor-and-other-british-gems/
But there is a silver lining to my eggplant-hued cloud. Now if trolls on Twitter badger me with the ...
1
vote
2answers
80 views
Understand: is not under natural authority but is under the arbitrary authority of the self-appointed and self-validating
Today I encountered a sentence:
A slave's education is not under natural authority but is under the arbitrary authority of the self-appointed and self-validating
I boldened the doubtful words and ...
1
vote
2answers
834 views
What does “refer to their own interest” imply?
I'm decent with the English language but this sentence makes no sense to me.
"Whatever reasons we may have for preserving or protecting non-sentient beings, these reasons do not refer to their own ...
1
vote
3answers
2k views
Why break wind means fart?
As a non-English native speaker. I found it hard to understand why break wind means fart.should I just remember the phrase and give up to try to understand why it means that.
